Cruse

//kɹuːs// name, noun

name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A small jar used to hold liquid, such as oil or water. archaic

    "With a thought I tooke for Maudline & a cruse of cockle pottage. with a thing thus tall, skie blesse you all: I befell into this dotage."

  2. 2
    small jar; holds liquid (oil or water) wordnet
  3. 3
    An oil lamp; a crusy. uncommon
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.
  2. 2
    An unincorporated community in Clay County, Illinois, United States.

Synonyms

All synonyms
bottlecanteencruetflaskjarjar

Example

More examples

"With a thought I tooke for Maudline & a cruse of cockle pottage. with a thing thus tall, skie blesse you all: I befell into this dotage."

Etymology

From Middle English crouse, from Old English crūse (“jar, cruse”), from Proto-West Germanic *krūsā, from Proto-Germanic *krūsǭ, *krūsaz (“jar, pot, collar, jug”). Cognate with German Krause (“pot with a lid”), Icelandic krús (“jar, jug”). Merged with Middle English croo (“pot, pitcher”), from Old English crōg (“crock, pitcher, vessel”). More at crock.

Related phrases

widow's cruse

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.